Jamie Muscato: 'Cabaret is an important, dark and unfortunately relevant story which needs attention to be paid to it'

Theatre-goers will be well aware of the rise of Jamie Muscato over the past few years, which reached new levels of acclaim last year when he played the title role of The Great Gatsby in a lavish production at the Coliseum. With his matinee idol looks and big voice, Gatsby was seemingly made for him — until along came Cabaret. If there are two polar opposites, it’s surely Gatsby and the Emcee in Cabaret, that Mephistophelian, shape-shifting, outrageous character which Muscato absolutely revels in.“It’s amazingly left-field if you look at what I’ve done before,” admits Muscato. “But I was able to be so free with it because as long as you’re telling the truth with the Emcee, as long as you’re having the most fun — until it’s not — you’re on to a winner.”Indeed in this classic story about the decadence of Berlin as the Nazis begin to take over, the nightclub Emcee acts as both light relief and devilish disruptor, holding up a mirror to the brutal fascism creeping in.“I see him as a filter of what is happening around him. At the beginning when there’s so much joy and you’re allowed to be who you are, he accepts that and gives it out. As things get darker, I see him malfunctioning. It’s an important, dark and unfortunately relevant story which needs attention to be paid to it.”Jamie Muscato and Frances Mayli McCann perform during The Great Gatsby photocall at the London ColiseumGettyBrighton-born Muscato always wanted to be an actor. “I had three or four am-dram groups… being a boy, it was embarrassing going into singing.” While he was auditioning for drama schools, he instead managed to bag his first role in the West End at 18 in Spring Awakening as a “swing”, a performer who covers multiple ensemble roles — “although there were no ensemble roles in it, so I was covering six leads. It’s one of the hardest jobs in theatre and was a baptism of fire.”He quickly picked up acclaim and lead roles right across the West End, from Les Misérables to Heathers to Moulin Rouge!, growing his reputation and fanbase to the point where he started performing solo shows. Even for him though, he’s on a roll, with Gatsby followed by playing Dexter in the stage version of David Nicholls’s One Day in Edinburgh, a role he’ll be returning to in the West End after Cabaret. For all his breezy charm he is a thoughtful performer with masterful technique. “Gatsby had to sing perfectly because that’s how he lives his life. With the Emcee, he’s on the edge, he can be slightly shouty with his vocal, and with Dexter there’s moments where I want him to sound nice and perfect and other times at the edge.”After that, the big screen awaits. “I want to act forever and test myself in a variety of mediums. I think after One Day I’ve earned myself a break from theatre — 100 per cent I want to do films!” Muscato is in Cabaret until September 19, and One Day — The Musical from November 17